5 ms·

Not just in terms of data preservation, but also in the amounts and the ever-quicker shifts of context. I can barely understand the controversy of the day on Tw

Not just in terms of data preservation, but also in the amounts and the ever-quicker shifts of context. I can barely understand the controversy of the day on Twitter as it is, and I'm living through it. I don't know how future historians will make any sense of the data we do leave behind.

baddox 6y ago
But wasn't the alternative in the past just less data and fewer people with power to create preserved data?
- Spooky23 6y ago
  No, you had letters and other primary source material. The garbage on Twitter is literally garbage and propaganda. The bleating of various mouthpieces are only useful in coordination with events and real documents.
  - baddox 6y ago
    Don't you suppose that letters also contained a lot of garbage and propaganda? I don't think we are generating less primary source material now that will be usable by future historians.
    - reaperducer 6y ago
      Not really. People were more carful and precise with what they wrote back then because writing takes effort, and the expense of paper, envelopes, ink, pens, and stamps wasn't insignificant. Today, people just throw a bunch of words on the internet without thought or care, and if people react to it, Yay! We're an influencer!
      - baddox 6y ago
        I just don't really buy it. I imagine those people back then were also complaining about how the kids these days don't care enough to communicate properly. https://xkcd.com/1227/ https://xkcd.com/1227/
    - Spooky23 6y ago
      I spent a lot of time reading primary source material in college and as an intern at an archive. People didn’t preserve crap or spend money to send so much of it. The closest thing are postcards from the early 20th century, and they are more banal then the garbage on Twitter. The difference is the egotistical impact of the platform. Most successful Twitter influencers who aren’t domain specialists are monsters.
aaomidi 6y ago
Future historians are going to be glad the data exists. You know how many things in history we base off of some very questionable data? We barely know about the Persian empire for example. It's mostly been preserved by plays written by a greek dude.
konfusinomicon 6y ago
Hopefully by that time there will be algorithms capable of applying some kind of meaning to the madness. It will be quite interesting to get a big picture view of something like 100+ years of global social media history
brightball 6y ago
It will be a line item in a text book one day. “During the early 21st century as “social media” began to emerge, various political forces attempted to manipulate it to achieve their goals. Luckily, only the bad people were unsuccessful.”
- Kednicma 6y ago
  "In the century leading up to the formation of the Hivemind, there were many rebellions around the world. Individual adult humans resisted the Hum when they were not raised with it. In 3 BHE (2020 CE), an outbreak of rona killed a quarter million humans in the United States of America, sparking the Q Rebellion. Even after the formation of the Hivemind, there were rebellious humans. After the Pan-National Treaties were ratified in 4 HE, the People's Republic of China invaded Hong Kong, starting the Skynet Rebellion, which would continue until 6 HE." "You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling." ~ Eames, "Inception"

baddox 6y ago

But wasn't the alternative in the past just less data and fewer people with power to create preserved data?

Spooky23 6y ago
No, you had letters and other primary source material. The garbage on Twitter is literally garbage and propaganda. The bleating of various mouthpieces are only useful in coordination with events and real documents.
- baddox 6y ago
  Don't you suppose that letters also contained a lot of garbage and propaganda? I don't think we are generating less primary source material now that will be usable by future historians.
  - reaperducer 6y ago
    Not really. People were more carful and precise with what they wrote back then because writing takes effort, and the expense of paper, envelopes, ink, pens, and stamps wasn't insignificant. Today, people just throw a bunch of words on the internet without thought or care, and if people react to it, Yay! We're an influencer!
    - baddox 6y ago
      I just don't really buy it. I imagine those people back then were also complaining about how the kids these days don't care enough to communicate properly. https://xkcd.com/1227/ https://xkcd.com/1227/
  - Spooky23 6y ago
    I spent a lot of time reading primary source material in college and as an intern at an archive. People didn’t preserve crap or spend money to send so much of it. The closest thing are postcards from the early 20th century, and they are more banal then the garbage on Twitter. The difference is the egotistical impact of the platform. Most successful Twitter influencers who aren’t domain specialists are monsters.

aaomidi 6y ago

Future historians are going to be glad the data exists. You know how many things in history we base off of some very questionable data? We barely know about the Persian empire for example. It's mostly been preserved by plays written by a greek dude.

konfusinomicon 6y ago

Hopefully by that time there will be algorithms capable of applying some kind of meaning to the madness. It will be quite interesting to get a big picture view of something like 100+ years of global social media history

brightball 6y ago

It will be a line item in a text book one day. “During the early 21st century as “social media” began to emerge, various political forces attempted to manipulate it to achieve their goals. Luckily, only the bad people were unsuccessful.”

Kednicma 6y ago
"In the century leading up to the formation of the Hivemind, there were many rebellions around the world. Individual adult humans resisted the Hum when they were not raised with it. In 3 BHE (2020 CE), an outbreak of rona killed a quarter million humans in the United States of America, sparking the Q Rebellion. Even after the formation of the Hivemind, there were rebellious humans. After the Pan-National Treaties were ratified in 4 HE, the People's Republic of China invaded Hong Kong, starting the Skynet Rebellion, which would continue until 6 HE." "You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling." ~ Eames, "Inception"